Executive Calendar

Floor Speech

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Mr. COONS. Mr. President, first, I want to thank my colleague and my friend, Mr. Flake, the Senator from Arizona, for joining me today in calling for action on a balanced bipartisan bill to uphold the rule of law, to avoid a constitutional crisis, and to secure the ongoing position of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, as he moves to complete his investigation.

This is a critical moment. Just a week ago today, President Trump forced the resignation of his Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, and effectively stripped Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein of his authority to supervise the ongoing investigation by Robert Mueller--an investigation which, I will remind you, just the same day he forced Attorney General Sessions' resignation, the President attacked publicly as a hoax and a witch hunt.

Let's take a step back to remember the bigger picture here. Robert Mueller--a career Federal law enforcement leader, a decorated combat veteran, a lifelong Republican--is leading an investigation into a foreign adversary's attack on our last election.

This isn't about relitigating that election. It isn't about partisan politics. It is about protecting our democracy. As my colleague Senator Flake said, it is about protecting what defines us as a democracy. Yet our President is now in a position easily to interfere with or even end the Mueller investigation. Compounding that threat is the person who has been appointed as the Acting Attorney General, Matthew Whitaker.

I have separate concerns about Mr. Whitaker's novel legal theories well outside the mainstream, about whether his experience makes him an appropriate person to be Acting Attorney General, whether his appointment is consistent with the Constitution and Federal law, but I will leave those concerns for another day. At the moment, I think Mr. Whitaker's comments about the Mueller investigation made a year ago make him a clear and present danger to the independence of the special counsel.

In an editorial last year, Mr. Whitaker argued that Mueller is ``dangerously close to crossing'' a redline, following reports saying he was looking into the President's finances. He said that without any examination of the facts or evidence. He said that if the investigation goes too far, then--and he openly pondered ways--an Attorney General could reduce special counsel Mueller's budget ``so low that his investigation grinds almost to a halt.''

For these reasons and others, I think Mr. Whitaker should recuse himself from overseeing the Mueller investigation, and we cannot wait for that action. We have asked our colleagues today to take a simple yet critical step to protect the special counsel and future special counsels in future administrations by supporting the bipartisan Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act. This is a bill crafted by Senator Graham, Senator Booker, myself, Senator Tillis--a bipartisan bill that, with the support of Senator Flake and the Chairman, Senator Grassley, passed the Judiciary Committee in April by a strong bipartisan margin of 14 to 7. We had a hearing. We had a markup. We had a vote. It is ready for committee action.

While I appreciate repeated assurances by the majority leader and many other Senators of the other party that it is not needed because they are confident the President will take no inappropriate action to interfere with the ongoing investigation, why would we not take this simple preventive measure? Given the President's repeated actions, given his repeated statements about the Mueller investigation, why pose this risk when a simple vote on the floor of the Senate could move this toward enactment?

Let me be clear about what the bill does. It says that if the special counsel is removed, counsel has the opportunity to challenge the removal in court. A panel of three Federal judges would have 2 weeks to hear and determine whether the removal was based on good cause. If the panel doesn't find good cause, the counsel would be reinstated. It preserves staffing, documents, and materials of the investigation while that matter is pending for that brief period.

The bottom line is this. The special counsel legislation we are urging today protects the integrity of this special counsel and future special counsels, something that Members of this body of both parties have repeatedly and publicly said we value. It strengthens the rule of law. It strengthens the principle that no one is above the law, and it ensures that we are not back on this floor trying to unravel an emerging constitutional crisis should the President precipitously act or should Matthew Whitaker precipitously act to impede Special Counsel Mueller's ongoing investigation.

Let me close today by asking my colleagues who are listening to consider the fundamental principles that form the basis of our democracy--free and fair elections, respect for the rule of law, strong independent institutions that deliver justice impartially and transparently.

It is because of these principles, enshrined in our founding documents, that the United States has grown from a fledgling experiment--at that time on the very fringes of world civilization--to a strong, vibrant, and inclusive nation that is a beacon for the world and the most sustained and greatest democracy in the history of the world.

We cannot take these principles and we cannot take the institutions of our democracy for granted. They don't protect themselves. Every now and then, when founding principles are threatened, we have to demand elected officials put aside disagreements and come together to defend them. This is one such moment.

I am grateful to my colleague from Arizona for his statement and his leadership today. I am confident that if given the opportunity to come for a vote, this bill would get at least 60 votes, having spoken to colleagues on both sides of the aisle yesterday and today. I am puzzled as to why there are leaders in this body who continue to have great confidence given the President's statements and actions.

I think the time for action has long since passed. We should have taken that action today. I will continue to work tirelessly with my colleague from Arizona until we secure passage of this bill.

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Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I will just conclude by saying that I could not agree more with the comments of the Senator from Arizona, my friend and colleague.

There come moments when we should step up and defend the prerogatives and the role of this body. This is one of them. I understand it may annoy, it may displease the President for there to be a speed bump put in the way of interference with the special counsel. But this isn't just about the current special counsel; this is about taking Department of Justice regulations and making them statute. This is about providing a small modicum of protection for the groundless removal of a special counsel.

This is something that, as my colleague has said, deserves prompt attention on the floor. We have a few weeks between now and the end of this Congress, time when we could be taking up and confirming nominees, time when we could be taking up and moving other pieces of legislation, but you have heard a very clear position by my colleague that we won't be moving forward nominees in the Judiciary Committee, and if just one more colleague joins him, we might well begin to prevent nominations from moving on the floor as well. To what end? Simply to get a vote on the floor. Simply to get an opportunity to be heard and for there to be a vote taken on this important piece of bipartisan legislation.

I am grateful to my colleague for his work on this and for his stand today, and I look forward to continuing to work tirelessly with him on it.

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